By Richard Muyombya
JINJA-Vijay Aggarwal is no doubt a Ugandan in a white skin. Born in Jinja Hospital in 1954, Aggarwal started elementary school at Main Street Primary School before joining Jinja SS for his O’level.
The 68-year-old then joined YMCA-Jinja in the early 1970s where he rose to prominence as an astute Lawn Tennis player who even featured for the national side.
“I was the national YMCA Lawn Tennis champion in 1969/70 in the competitions held in Kampala and even received recognition from the then government of Apollo Milton Obote,” Aggarwal remembers with nostalgia.
Time flies for every man and the once prolific Lawn Tennis star who also played Cricket and Hockey is now a certified chartered accountant with over 40 years of experience.
“After graduating as an accountant in the early 1970s, I worked with MYRUS Smith & Co between 1973 and 1985. In 1984, I set up my own company called Gee Aggarwal & Co Chartered accountants which is still in operation,” Aggarwal said.
Father Time has a way it makes people swap careers and seeing Aggarwal today, one cannot imagine that he was an all-round athlete juggling Cricket where he doubled as vice-captain of the Jinja SS school cricket club as well as Table Tennis champion in 1969 and 1972 respectively.
The athletic body he still carries approaching 70 is a clear portrayal of his past sporting abilities.
“I played in the Uganda under 15 Open Lawn Tennis championship and reached the semi-finals,” the amiable Aggarwal said.
For over 50 years living in the United Kingdom, Kent county in Rochester Town, Aggarwal returned to Jinja where it all started from.
In the company of his old friends, Bharat Unadkak and Prakash Sakaria, who were also born in Jinja Hospital and studied from Main Street Primary School and Jinja SS respectively, the trio walked down Memory Lane, visiting Main Street Primary School, Jinja SS and YMCA College of Business Studies Jinja.
At YMCA, they were received by the college principal Lambert Okure Drata who commended them for the courtesy visit and urged them to keep YMCA-Jinja at heart.
In an interview with this website, Bharat revealed that visiting his former schools and friends in Jinja is part of activities to celebrate 72 years of his life.
“I wanted to celebrate 72 years of life with a trip down Memory Lane and I am amazed by the transformation Jinja has gone through,” Bharat said.
On his part, Sakaria who is a health care said his family had three shops in Jinja town along Kutch Road and also operated a string of other businesses, including distributing the then government newspaper called Uganda Argus.
